Mahler: Symphony No.4

Valery Gergiev's commitment to late Romantic music has yielded impressive recordings of orchestral works by Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, and especially Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies received an impressive audiophile cycle from Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra on the LSO Live label. Gergiev appears to have embarked on yet another Mahler series, this time with the Munich Philharmonic, starting in 2016 with a stirring account of the Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection," and followed by this 2017 release of the Symphony No. 4 in G major.

After a period-instrument reading of the Symphony no.1 that received unanimous acclaim from the critics, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles return to Mahler. Joined by the luminous voice of Sabine Devieilhe for the famous finale, they offer us their vision of the Fourth Symphony, which in its own way marks the composer’s transition to modernity, and reveal unsuspected colours and instrumental balances. We still have much to learn about the polyphonic transparency possible within Mahler’s big orchestra!

On 23 October 1904, Gustav Mahler himself conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra in his Fourth Symphony. The work was given twice during the concert, once before and once after the break! Since 1939 all chief conductors of the Concertgebouw Orchestra have made sound recordings of this cornerstone in the RCO repertoire. After Mahler's Second (RCO 17003), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Daniele Gatti present the SACD edition of this beloved Fourth Symphony.

After a period-instrument reading of the Symphony no.1 that received unanimous acclaim from the critics, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles return to Mahler. Joined by the luminous voice of Sabine Devieilhe for the famous finale, they offer us their vision of the Fourth Symphony, which in its own way marks the composer’s transition to modernity, and reveal unsuspected colours and instrumental balances. We still have much to learn about the polyphonic transparency possible within Mahler’s big orchestra!

Following a concert performance in October 1970 Jascha Horenstein went into the studio with the London Philharmonic to record Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as one of the first recordings for the then new Classics For Pleasure bargain label produced by John Boyden. The result was musically deeply satisfying though the sound on the original LP left much to be desired. This led to a poor one-star review being enshrined in the very next Penguin Guide and that must surely have contributed to killing the release on the shelves so it was never considered among the recommended versions for this work.

Fans of Gustav Mahler's joyous Symphony No. 4 in G major will relish this buoyant performance by Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, featuring soprano Miah Persson, for it is wholly in keeping with the light tone and merry spirit of the score and is as delightful as any other recording on the market.